


Book One: Heavy Is The Head

by Zoanzon



Series: Used To The Darkness, a MCU remix [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Canon Divergence - Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Gen, bullet point fic, but for now hopefully people like it as a bullet-point fic, hopefully one day i can flesh the series out a bit more..., if i wrote the whole work - this plus its follow ups - out in full it would probably be +500K, oh god what am i getting myself into...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:54:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28337271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoanzon/pseuds/Zoanzon
Summary: When the Battle on Titan goes wrong, a series of actions leads to a desperate attempt to put the Time and Mind Stones together to see if they can send people's minds back in time a few months so Thanos' army can properly be prepared for.As Tony wakes up a few years farther back than expected, he can guess that something went wrong.
Series: Used To The Darkness, a MCU remix [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1265882
Kudos: 6





	Book One: Heavy Is The Head

**Author's Note:**

> This fic - and the larger series this is a prelude for - are things I've been working on since early 2019. However, as I've written less than 10K worth of actual prose between then and now, I've decided to say 'fuck it' and just put them out as bullet-point fics. Either I never get around to properly writing them in full, and they still get SOME form of life; or the motivation eventually comes and these help hype people up for the series' full glory.
> 
> But for now, enjoy some bullet points.
> 
> [Title is from 'Heavy Is The Head' by Zac Brown Band (ft. Chris Cornell).]

  * **_The Path I Started Us On_**



    * MCU timeline fits until partway through the conflict on Titan, when Quill disrupts Mantis’ thrall effect on Thanos
    * Mantis, Peter, and Quill are killed, Tony is wounded worse than in canon - perhaps fatally - and Nebula + Drax manage to serve as a momentary distraction before joining the others in death
    * Knowing the timeline he saw just went out the window, Strange uses Drax + Quill’s distraction to evacuate himself and Tony - either by dangerous magic too risky to do otherwise, or risky use of the Time Stone - back to Earth
    * They appear right on top of Vision + Steve in Wakanda, right after the two defeated Corvus Glaive
    * Vision, ‘seeing’ the truth of the matter with Tony’s likely-fatal injuries and perhaps glimpsing the visions from Strange, proposes using their stones - Mind and Time - together to send someone/everyone back before the War started, to give them time to _properly_ prepare
    * Strange refuses, seeing such a plan as impossible madness, but Vision counters by pointing out that - as Strange himself claims - there was only one viable timeline and that has already been extinguished; therefore, they’re already facing the Bad End, and what more could be lost by their actions than if they didn’t?
    * Beyond Strange, Steve is desperately trying to play catch-up on what’s happened to the other two, as well as dealing with both Tony’s injuries as well as the ill-timed ‘you were right about them returning’ and barely-settled issues relating to the Civil War
    * Imagine a typical argument between MCU superheroes and you have a general gist of how productive this is
    * Vision and/or Tony convince Strange that they’re already fucked enough to start trying Stupid Stuff, and Strange agrees to help in ‘Operation: Two Stone Time-Travel’
    * V+S aren’t sure whether they can get the Stones to properly affect everyone at once, so the plan is to send Tony first since he’s already partially-dead, then Steve next, then see whether they can get themselves back while being the ones to affect the time-travel BS
    * Partway through, Thanos arrives, disrupting the concentration that was happening to _carefully_ send Tony back
    * From Tony’s POV, his somewhat-rocky journey experiences massive turbulence, and instead of waking a month or three prior like they’d all planned, he comes to in a hospital bed in the Tower, surrounded by faces that look _years_ younger than expected...
  * **_Take Two_**
    * Tony makes contact with the Scepter during the Sokovian mission, and it leaves him reeling for some unknown reason
    * Right before starting to talk Bruce around to implanting Vision into the vessel within the Cradle, within feet of said Cradle and the Mind Stone within, Time-Travel!Tony’s mind is jammed into his past body, sending him into a seizure
    * Tony wakes to himself restrained, the others unsure of what might have caused the episode and unsure what to expect considering the Stone’s prior activities
    * Considering Tony - vaguely-incoherently as his body recovers and his mind reconciles having a second timeline’s worth of memories jammed into his head - tries to simultaneously warn of the invasion coming AND advocate for the vessel being used for Vision as past him was right about to do…the restraints are left on, and Bruce gets to work destroying the vessel just in case the Mind Stone tries to enact any further mayhem and/or a delirious Tony tries to pull more Mad Science if he escapes
    * Clint finds Nat’s transmission as in canon while waiting to find out what happened to Tony, and the group that went to Sokovia to deal with Ultron head out again, sans a still-restrained Tony
    * Tony manages to break out, confirms the vessel is too destroyed to be able to (re)create Vision, and hides away the Mind Stone since he knows it’ll be a target in the coming war; then, he heads to Sokovia
    * Due to his future-knowledge, Tony manages to know where to aim his and others’ firepower sooner (if needing a bit of time to convince the others to follow his lead?)
    * Butterflies happen, Quicksilver is badly wounded but doesn’t die
    * Without Quicksilver’s death, Wanda doesn’t abandon her post to track down Ultron’s primary body, meaning Floating Sokovia isn’t dropped
    * The Battle for Sokovia is far more protracted with Tony’s late arrival, without Vision, and without Wanda eliminating Ultron’s main body, but the battle is eventually won by Avengers + SHIELD
    * (Fight runs long enough for New Faces to join partway through and assist, having had time to make their way to Sokovia?)
    * Following the battle, Tony immediately vamooses, ignoring the others trying to hail him
    * Cap + Widow + Twins find the Mind Stone missing, and - after Ultron, and with a missing stone and the earlier erratic behavior - deem Iron Man a threat to be detained as soon as possible
    * Hawkeye and Thor go with this, but don’t have the same drive as the others do
    * Meeting with Fury to do a post-battle briefing and alert him to Stark’s new threat, Fury alerts them that Stark came to him and is doing a covert action under his directive
    * This is subject to protests after the erratic behavior and having the Mind Stone, but Fury refuses to budge unless the Maximoffs are put under tentative guard considering their very recent HYDRA history and Maximoff’s mind-altering powers
    * This, as expected, isn’t taken well by Rogers, though without Wanda being desolate by her brother’s death Clint isn’t as ‘oh poor child’, and leaves a stand-off
    * Hawkeye still retires, even without the close-call like in canon; and Thor - more reluctantly due to the uncertainty of Tony and the Mind Stone - still leaves to follow up on the activity of the Infinity Stones in the universe’s history
    * Meanwhile, Tony files his resignation, which adds further worry to Steve + Nat
    * Rhodey, Sam, and the Twins join the Avengers, bringing the team up to Steve, Nat, Rhodey, Sam, Wanda, and Pietro
  * **_Stinger(s)_**
    * Tony is shown dealing with the Siberian HYDRA base and the on-ice Siberian Soldiers when Loki shows up, having felt the mental/temporal disturbance and - upon observation - Stark having the Mind Stone, and coming to investigate just what has happened
    * \--Scene break--
    * One of Ultron’s bodies, his last one, is seen scheming; the lack of Vision having let a last renegade body get away unseen



  
  


**Author's Note:**

> If and when I add more, it'll be to the series and not to this specific installment - each 'book' in the fic series will have its own respective bullet point fic - so I'd rec following Used To The Darkness, the series this is a part of, if you want to see more.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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